Two of the all-time legends shared the court in the biggest mixed doubles match in the 31-year history of the tournament of Hopman Cup, in which Roger Federer teamed with Belinda Bencic triumphs over Serena Williams and Frances Tiafoe.
The much anticipated mixed doubles match hogged the spotlight of the sports world given it was the first time Federer had faced off against Williams in an official match. The all-time Tennis Legends, with 43 Grand Slam singles titles (Williams 23 and Federer 20) and more than US$200million prize money between them shared a court in the twilight of their long illustrious careers amidst the huge crowd of 14,064 fans and spectators.
The fact that this match would also decide the tie winner also added extra intrigue after both Federer and Williams won their earlier singles matches. The US who lost to Greece in the opening tie had to defeat Switzerland to keep their title hopes alive. But it was Roger-lead Switzerland who came out on top, winning the Fast4 format 4-2 4-3(5-3) in 46 minutes.
Serena Williams said after the match that she did not want her mixed-doubles clash with Federer to end as she was “just warming up.”
“The guy is great, he is greatest of all time both on and off the court and he has such charisma”, she added.
Federer was also in all praise for his opponent who said,” I was nervous returning because you just don’t know. People talk about her serve so much and now I see why it is such a wonderful service.”
